Ohio State received some huge news last Thursday evening with the commitment of five-star junior Cameron Burrows. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound defensive back out of Trotwood (Ohio) Madison gives the Buckeyes a big-time start to the 2013 class. Burrows made his college announcement surrounded by friends and family, and BuckeyeGrove.com was able to catch up with his dad, Andre Burrows shortly after the ceremony.

"It's very exciting," said Burrows of his son's decision. "I'm happy that it's behind us now so that he can just focus on what he needs to, but it's a very exciting day. I've always been a big Ohio State fan."

Burrows was considered an Ohio State lean throughout most of his recruitment but the serious talks about a decision really just started picking up recently.

"He started talking to me about it, like the beginning of last week," he said. "We discussed the pros and cons to being (at Ohio State). I just explained to him, 'what is there to lose by going up there?' You're not too far from home, you're at one of the best universities in the country and you've got some of the best coaches out there. Everything added up to a positive, I never gave him a decision to make, I just told him the positives about it."

At the end of the day, proximity to home and having the comfort of knowing that if anything goes wrong, that family is just a short drive away was a huge factor for Burrows choosing the Buckeyes.

"He has a brother that goes to college in Arizona," he continued. "Sometimes when things aren't going right for him, he's far from home, so I just explained everything like that to him and he just made his own decision."

While Mr. Burrows is undeniably proud of his son's accomplishments on the football field, athletics are not what comes first in the Burrows' household as Cameron carries a 3.5 cumulative grade-point average for his high school career. Perhaps even more impressive is that he was able to carry a 4.1 grade-point average for the quarter during a state championship run and during the height of his recruitment.

"Academics are very important," he said. "We understand that without a good education and a good mind, you're not going to get anywhere out here anyway. He talks about going to the next level and everything but even if he gets to the next level, he's still going to need that education to help him with whatever comes his way."

Mr. Burrows made sure that discipline and academics were instilled at a very young age. Well before his son had to meet any type of academic standards to play sports at his school, Mr. Burrows put in his own standards that needed to be met.

"He's always understood that his education is going to come first, regardless of anything else," he said. "When he was in pee-wee, if his grades weren't right, there wasn't going to be any football."

It is for those reasons above that Mr. Burrows approached his son's recruiting process a little bit differently. While football was a part of the puzzle, it wasn't the biggest piece; he wanted to know that his son would be well taken care of the next four years.

"They are some great people up there," Burrows said. "I met pretty much the whole staff last weekend and everybody seems family-oriented. The coaches' wives were there, the kids were there. I wanted my son to be somewhere that I wasn't worried about what kind of people these guys are, regardless of the coaching. Once I got around them and saw the families and met them, I was really at peace around them. I knew that I would be alright if my son was there and I knew that I wouldn't have to worry and that he would be in good hands. Once I knew that, I was ok (with the decision)."